Courtesy: Joe BrowningUNCW Head Softball Coach Kristy Norton has announced the hiring of former James Madison standout pitcher Meredith Felts as an assistant coach on Tuesday

WILMINGTON, North
Carolina - UNCW Head Softball Coach Kristy Norton has announced the hiring
of former James Madison standout pitcher Meredith Felts as an assistant coach.

Felts joins the Seahawks after two seasons as an assistant
coach at Charleston Southern, where she helped the Buccaneers advance to the
Big South Conference Championship for the first time since 1988. She also made
a significant impact with the CSU pitching staff during her time in the Low
Country, steering the Buccaneers' rotation to a new single-season mark for
strikeouts each season and ranking near the top of the league in earned run
average.

"Meredith will be a great addition to our staff and her
appointment marks another step toward moving our program in a positive
direction," said Norton. "She's a true student of the game and an outstanding
pitching coach. A phenomenal player at JMU, she brings a wealth of softball
knowledge to our program and has a bright future ahead as a collegiate coach."

Felts began her coaching career as an assistant coach for
the Mannheim (Germany) Tornados Juniors in 2009, where she planned and
implemented team practices and assisted in game day operations. She then
spent the 2010 season as an intern with the softball program at UNC Chapel
Hill, serving as tournament director for multiple home tournaments and also assisting
the Tar Heel program in scouting, recruiting, game day operations, practice
planning and simulating opposing pitchers in practice.

No stranger to the Colonial Athletic Association, Felts was
a four-year letterwinner at JMU from 2006-09, finishing her career as the school's
all-time leader in wins (61), ERA (1.62), games started (85), complete games
(52), strikeouts (581) and shutouts (20). A three-time All-CAA selection, Felts
sparked the Dukes to the program's first CAA Championship and NCAA Tournament
appearance in 2009, earning Most Outstanding Player and All-Tournament Team
accolades after posting a 2-0 record and a 0.58 ERA in two starts during the
event. She was named to the CAA's 25th Anniversary Team in honor of the
league's Silver Anniversary in 2010.

A native of Greenville, N.C., Felts graduated from James
Madison with a Bachelor's degree in Kinesiology and a minor in General Business
in May, 2010.